Apparatus for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels or the like



3,367,160 IVI-IER AL RLMACHINED RAILROAD WHEELS OR THE LII/d` 5 Sheets-Shoot l H E DA G N I .b L O R Lw AI TN I EF D WN BA Rm ET. PN E SD .m HH K WMP WF RO OS .Fm SAG UF6 www SRS A 6P O 9F 2 1A n 9 a 6 J u d 1D E m l F Feb. 6, 1968 H, SPERBER ET A| 3,367,160

APPARATUS FOR WORK HARDENING AND FINISH ROLLING PERIPHERAL SUHFACES OF FREMACHINED RAILROAD WHEELS OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 20, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb.. '6, 1968 H, SPERBER ET AL APPARATUS FOR WORK HARDENING AND FINISH ROLLING PERIPHERAL SURFACES OF PHL'MACHINED RAILROAD WHEELS OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 20, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 KJ a S my@ @www @mi a 7 United States Patent fice 3,367,160 Patented Feb. 6, 19,68

3 367 160 APPARATUS FUR WORK HARDENING AND FIN- ISH ROLLING PERIPHERAL SURFACES F PRE- MACHINED RAILROAD WHEELS 0R THE LIKE Hans Sperber, Theodor Dombrowski, and Bernhard Kunze, Erkelenz, Germany, assignors to Wilhelm Hegenscheidt Kommanditgesellschaft, Erkelenz, Germany Filed Jan. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 521,916 Claims priority, application Germany, Jan. 25, 1965, H 54,960; Feb. 1, 1965, H 55,025 12 Claims. (Cl. 72-86) The present invention relates to an apparatus for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels or the like.

The profiles of railroad wheels are subjected during operation at portions thereof in contact with the rails to great stresses, especially at the contact or rolling surface, at the fillet, and at the wheeled fiange. The loads the wheels are subjected to are especially pressure and shock loads which produce during extended operation a gradual hardening of the steel tires of the railroad wheels due to the cold working thereof so that gradually a greater strength is obtained at the portions thereof which are subjected to the greatest stresses. The thus-obtained hardened portions will retard further wear of the wheels. The Wear of the wheel profiles increases therefore relatively rapidly during the first 40,000 kilometers of operation and after this initial operation the wear proceeds at a lower pace. This fact is well recognized and maintenance men try therefore during remachining of the profiles of the railroad wheels to maintain the work hardened portions thereof as much as possible.

The work hardening of the profile surface during operation of the wheels does, however, not occur uniformly, so that the profile is slightly distorted and so that portions of greater hardness alternate with portions of lesser hardness.

It is therefore common practice to remove the wheel sets after they have been used over a predetermined number of kilometers and to remachine the profiles thereof. The hardened surface portions are necessarily removed during this remachining so that the profiles will have the same `hardness they had when new.

It is known in order to avoid this disadvantage to subject the profiles of railroad wheels, after remachining the same, to a cold work hardening process by rollingly engaging the profiles under pressure by a work hardening and finishing roller. The known apparatus for carrying out this operation are, however, not very satisfactory because the work hardening and finishing roller in such known appatatus has to be continuously and manually adjusted to the profile. Such an operation is extremely difficult since considerable forces are required for this rolling or work hardening operation in order to obtain a harden ing of the material to a required depth. The specific surface pressure imparted by the Work hardening and finishing roller to the work piece is inversely proportioned to the diameter of the roller. For constructive reasons, that is in order to absorb bearing pressures of 2 to 3 tons, the diameter of the roller has therefore to be relatively large. If it is further considered that in order to increase the efficiency of the operation both wheels of a wheel set are simultaneously acted upon so that a total rolling pressure of 5 to 6 tons is imparted in radial direction onto the wheel set, it will be obvious that a continuous manually or operator controlled adjustment of the position of the roller is extremely diliicult.

It is an object of the present invention to provide for an apparatus for Work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels which avoids these disadvantages of apparatus known for this purpose in the art.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide for an apparatus of the aforementioned kind by means of which premachined railroad Wheel profiles may continuously and without use of a template be work hard. ened and finish rolled true to profile without imparting to thewheel any substantial lateral forces.

With these objects in view, the apparatus according to the present invention for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels or the like mainly comprises a work hardening and finishing roller adapted to engage the peripheral surface of the wheel, lever means mounting the Work hardening and finishing roller turnably about its own axis and tiltable about an axis normal to its own axis, first pressure means connected to the lever means for tilting the latter about the tilting axis to press thereby the work hardening and finishing roller against the peripheral surface of the railroad wheel, second pressure means connected to the lever means for moving the latter and the work hardening and finishing roller mounted thereon in a direction substantially normal to the tilting axis toward the peripheral surface of the railroad wheel while permitting said lever means to move in the opposite direction under the reaction of the force imparted by the work hardening and finishing roller on the wheel, and an abutment roller arranged so as to engage the railroad wheel on a side face thereof to take up axial force component imparted to the wheel by said work hardening and finishing roller.

In this apparatus the work hardening and finishing roller will change its position according to the inclination of the profile while being pressed against the profile. In this way the cold Working and hardening proceeds true to profile and uniform over the whole peripheral surface of the wheel profile.

In a preferred arrangement according to the present invention the lever means mounting the work hardening and finishing roller are in the form of a first lever and the abutment roller is mounted on a second lever pivotally connected to the first lever for tilting movement relative thereto about the aforementioned tilting axis and the first pressure means, which are preferably in the form of a hydraulic cylinder and piston arrangement, are connected to the first and the second lever to move the rollers mounted thereon toward each other. In this way the work hardening and finishing roller and the abutment roller together with the levers on which they are mounted act on the profile to be hardened like a pair of pliers which is closed by the hydraulic pressure developed by the first pressure means. In this arrangement the horizontal forces will compensate each other as internal forces of the lever system so that the wheel set is not subjected to any axial forces, whereby this pressure equalization is advantageously assured for any position of therollers the same will assume during work hardening of the complete wheel profile. This is accomplished according to a further feature of the present invention according to which the work hardening and finishing roller and the abutment roller together with the levers carrying the rollersrare combined into one unit forming a rolling head and in which the rolling head is mounted on the second `pressure means tiltable about an axis substantially parallel to the aforementioned tilting axis. In this way the rolling head and the lever system may adjust their positions in an optimum manner to the profile of the wheel to be worked on. This automatic adjustment of the position of the rollers to the profile of the wheel is further improved by providing the abutment roller with a peripheral surface which is concavely curved in direction of the roller axis.

As mentioned before the pressure means are preferably hydraulically actuated and include a cylinder member and a piston member and an especially simple and compact arrangement of `the apparatus is obtained when one of the members is pivotally connected to one of the levers and the other pivotally connected to the other of the levers respectively carrying the work hardening and finishing roller and the abutment roller.

The apparatus according to the present invention may also include support means for supporting a railroad wheel set and the support means preferably include frame means, a plurality of supporting rollers turnably mounted on the frame and arranged to turnably support a railroad wheel set, and drive means connected to at least one of the support rollers for turning the same about its axis. In this arrangement the work hardening and finishing roller as well as the abutment roller are arranged above the support rollers so that the pressure imparted to the wheel by the work hardening and finishing roller is taken up by the support rollers. The support means may further include rails arranged in such a manner that a wheel set to be worked on may without help of a crane be rolled onto the support rollers of the apparatus and be rollingly removed therefrom.

In this arrangement the rolling head constituted by the aforementioned lever system and the rollers carried thereby is preferably mounted on the second pressure means tiltable about an axis which extends in substantially horizontal direction and normal to the axis of the railroad wheel set.

An especially advantageous construction according to the present invention is obtained when the second pressure means include an hydraulic pressure cylinder mounted substantially vertically on the frame of the support means above the railroad wheel set to be worked on and in which the rolling head is pivotally connected to the lower end of the piston rod of a piston in the hydraulic pressure cylinder.

Advantageously the apparatus of the present invention is constructed in such a manner that wheel sets of different diameters may be worked on. The apparatus preferably includes therefore adjustment means extending parallel to the axis of the cylinder of the second pressure means and linkage means connecting the rolling head to the adjustment means. The adjustment means preferably include a spindle having an axis substantially parallel to that of the pressure cylinder and being mounted adjustable in direction of its axis on the frame of the machine, and the linkage means are preferably in the form of an arm fixed at one end to the rolling head and pivotally connected to the bottom end of the spindle. Thereby an additional support is provided for the rolling head so that the latter also during periods in which the apparatus is not in use vis held in position and so that the rolling head does not have to be adjusted and be properly placed on the work piece each time the apparatus is taken into operation. The adjustment means also permit an extremely simple adjustment of the rolling head for various wheel diameters so that the apparatus of the present invention may be used in a very efficient manner.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of the apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the rolling head, drawn to an enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawings and more specifically 4 to FIG. 3 of the same, it will be seen that the apparatus according to the present invention comprises a work hardening and finishing roller 13 mounted for rotation about its axis in an elongated bearing housing 14 forming a first lever which in turn is mounted at 16 on a plateshaped second lever 17 for pivotal movement about a tilting axis normal to the turning axis of the roller at 16. The plate-shaped second lever 17 carries at a portion thereof adjacent to the work hardening and finishing roller13 an abutment roller 22 turnable about an axls substantially normal to the tilting axis of the bearing housing 14. First pressure means, which are preferably hydraulically actuated are provided for tilting the two levers 14 and 17 relative to each other about the tilting axis 16. The first pressure means may include, as shown in FIG. 3, a hydraulic cylinder 18 tiltably connected at the end thereof facing away from the work hardening and finishing roller 13 by means of a pin 19 to the lever 17, whereas the piston rod 21 of the piston which is slidably guided in the cylinder 18 is pivotally connected at to the bearing housing 14. Preferably two identical levers 17 (as shown in FIG. 2) are provided parallel and spaced from each other and connected to each other in any convenient manner and the roller 13 including the bearing housing 14, the abutment roller 22 and the first pressure means including the cylinder 18, the piston and piston rod 21 are located in the space between the plateshaped levers 17. The aforementioned elements are thereby constructed as one unit forming a rolling head 15. When a liquid under pressure is fed in known manner into the cylinder 18 at the side of the piston facing away from the piston rod 21 the lever 14 formed by the bearing housing of the work hardening and finishing roller 13 will be turned in clockwise direction about the tilting axis 16, whereas the plate-shaped levers 17 will be turned in the opposite direction about the tilting axis 16 so that the levers 14 and 17 with the work hardening and finishnig roller 13 and the abutment roller 22 will act like pliers on a profile of a railroad wheel as shown in FIG. 3.

The rolling head 15 constituted by the aforementioned elements is movable by second pressure means in direction toward the axis of the wheel to be worked on. The second pressure means preferably include, as shown in FIG. l a hydraulic pressure cylinder 4 in which a piston 27 is slidably guided. Fixed to the piston and downwardly extending therefrom is a piston rod 5, on the lower end of which the rolling head 15 is tiltably mounted by means of a pivot pin 23 extending parallel to the tilting axis 16 of the bearing housing 14 which carries the work hardening and finishing roller 13.

The apparatus according to the present invention preferably includes also support means for supporting a railroad wheel set 6 to be worked on as well as the second pressure means which carry the rolling head 15. The support means preferably include a substantially yoke-shaped -frame 2 between which a pairof rails 1 are arranged on which a railroad wheel set 6 may be rolled in and out of the apparatus. To provide for an efficient operation two rolling heads 15 are provided on the apparatus so that the two wheels of a wheel set 6 may be worked on simultaneously. The pressure cylinders 4 connected to the -two rollingheads 15 are mounted spaced from each other and substantially vertically on appropriate brackets, which may have the form of cylinders as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which in turn are fixed to the cross beam 3 of the frame projecting upwardly from the upper surface of the cross beam. The upper end of each pressure cylinder 4 is preferably pivotally connected, as indicated in FIG. 1, to the top wall of the respective bracket and each pressure cylinder extends in vertical direction through an appropriate opening in the cross beam 3.

The support means of the apparatus may further include two pairs of supporting rollers 10, 10', as shown in FIGS. l and 2, adapted to rollingly support two wheels of a wheel set 6 on a portion of the lower peripheral surface 9 of each wheel. The rollers 10 and 10 of each pair of rollers are connected through a gearing 11, schematically indicated in FIGURES 1 and 2, to a drive motor 12 so that the supporting rollers 10 and 10' Vare respectively turned in the same direction about their axes. The arrangement preferably includes further a lifting jack 7, which may for instance be hydraulically operated in a known manner, and which is arranged between the two pairs of supporting rollers. The jack 7 may be lifted so as to engage the wheels of a set of wheels 6, rolled onto the apparatus on the rails 1, on the peripheral surfaces of the flanges 8 of the two wheels and then the jack 7 is lowered again so as to place the two Wheels on the respective pair of supporting rollers and 10'.

The apparatus preferably includes further adjustment means for each roller head 15. The adjustment means are preferably in the form of a vertical spindle 29 mounted on the machine frame, as best shown in FIG. 2, for adjustment in vertical direction. Such adjustment is carried out by means of a hand wheel 30, turnably mounted on an extension of the frame which carries the spindle 29, and which by means of a worm fixed to the shaft of the hand wheel 30 and a worm gear meshing with the worm drives a shaft extending normal to the axis of the spindle 29. The driven shaft carries fixedly connected thereto for rotation therewith a pinion meshing with a gear rack integrally formed on the spindle 29 so that the latter may be moved in vertical direction by turning the hand wheels 30 in one or the other direction. Linkage means are provided between each spindle 29 and the rolling head 15 adjacent thereto. These linkage means may 'oe in the form of an arm 28 fixedly connected at one end thereof to one of the plate shaped levers 17 forming part of the respective rolling head 15 and pivotally connected at the other end thereof to the lower end of the respective spindle 29 as shown in FIG. 2.

The apparatus above described will operate as follows:

A set of wheels 6 is rolled on the rails 1 into the apparatus whereby the jack 7 is raised so as to engage the wheel iianges 8 on the peripheral surface thereof as soon as the wheel set 6 rolls off the end of the rails 1. The jack 7 is then lowered so as to place the wheel set 6 onto the supporting rollers 1f), 10. The rolling heads and the work hardening and finishing rollers 13 on the two rolling heads are then adjusted to engage the two lowest portions of the profiles of the two wheels. The supporting rollers 10, 10 are then rotated by means of the motors 12 and 12 and liquid under pressure is then fed into the cylinders 4 and 18. The hydraulic pressure in the pressure cylinder 18 is held by means of an unillustrated pressure control arrangement of known construction substantially constant while the feed movement ensues by the introduction of pressure liquid between the lower annular surface of the piston 27 and the lower end of the cylinder 4 through the conduit 31 and while volume control means 26 of known construction control fiow of pressure liquid through the conduit out of the space 24 in the pressure cylinder 4 between the upper end thereof and the upper surface of the piston 27 therein in such a manner that the piston rod 5 may move in upward direction when the work hardening and finishing roller 13 is pressed by the pressure means 18, 21 in a pincer-like movement against the abutment roller 22 so that the pressure roller 13 will gradually move from the lowest portion of the profile of the respective wheel to the highest portion thereof whereby the bearing housing 14 will tilt about the tilting axis 16 and the rolling head 15 may tilt around the axis of the pivot pin 23. The one-way valves 32 and 33, respectively, determine the conduits for the feeding and the discharge, respectively, of the space 24.

When the apparatus has to be adjusted for working on wheels of different diameters, the piston rod 5 and the spindle 29 are simultaneously moved parallel to each 6 other whereby the hand wheel 30 serves to adjust the spindle 29 in vertical direction. The arm 28 serves thereby to support the respective rolling head 15 in preadjusted position relative to the wheel set 6.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of apparatus' for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels or the like differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in apparatus for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

I. Apparatus for work hardening and finish rolling peripheral surfaces of premachined railroad wheels or the like comprising, in combination, a work hardening and finishing roller adapted to engage the peripheral surface of a wheel; lever means mounting said work hardening and finishing roller turnable about its own axis and tiltable about a tilting axis normal to its own axis; first pressure means connected to said lever means for tilting the latter about the tilting axis to press thereby said work hardening and finishing roller against the peripheral surface of the railroad wheel; second pressure means connected to said lever means for moving the latter and the work hardening and finishing roller mounted thereon in a direction substantially normal to said tilting axis toward the peripheral surface of the railroad wheel while permitting said lever means to move in the opposite direction under the reaction of the force imparted by said work hardening and finishing roller on said wheel; and an abutment roller arranged so as to engage the railroad wheel on a side face thereof to take-up axial force components imparted to the wheel by said Work hardening and finishing roller.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said lever means is in the form of a first lever, wherein said abutment roller is mounted on a second lever pivotally connected to the first lever for tilting movement relative thereto about said tilting axis, and wherein said first pressure means is connected to said first and to said second lever to press the rollers mounted thereon toward each other.

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said first lever is in the form of an elongated bearing housing turnably carrying said work hardening and finishing roller at one end thereof and said pivot axis being located in the region of the other end of said elongated bearing housing.

4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said first and said second lever, the rollers carried thereby and said first pressure means are constructed as a unit forming a rolling head, and wherein said rolling head is pivotally mounted on said second pressure means.

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said second pressure means include a cylinder, a piston slidable in said cylinder and having a piston rod, and wherein said second lever is pivotally mounted on said piston rod turnable about an axis substantially parallel to said tilting axis.

6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein said rst pressure means includes a hydraulic cylinder member and a piston member, one of said members being pivotally connected to one of said levers and the other of said members being pivotally connected to the other of said levers.

7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the peripheral surface of said abutment roller is convexly curved in direction of the axis of said abutment roller.

8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, and including support means for supporting a railroad wheel set, said support means including frame means, a plurality of supporting rollers turnably mounted on said frame means and arranged to turnably support the railroad wheel set while taking up the pressure imparted thereto by said work hardening land finishing roller, said work hardening and finishing roller and .said abutment roller being 'arranged above said support rollers.

9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 4, and including support means for supporting a railroad wheel set, said support means including frame means, a plurality of supporting rollers turnably mounted on said frame means and arranged to turnably support the railroad wheel set while taking up the pressure imparted to the set by said work hardening and finishing roller, and drive means connected to at least one of said supporting rollers for turning the same about its axis, and wherein said rolling head is arranged above said supporting rollers connected to said second pressure means tiltable about a substantially horizontal axis substantially normal to the axis of ther railroad Wheel set supported on said supporting rollers.

10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said second pressure means include a hydraulic pressure cylinder having a substantially vertical axis and being mounted on said frame means, a piston slideably guided in said cylinder and having a downwardly projecting piston rod, said rolling head being pivotally connected to the lower end of said piston rod.

11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 10, and including adjustment means means extending substantially parallel to the axis of said hydraulic pressure cylinder, and connecting means connecting said rolling head to said adjusting means.

12. An apparatus as set forth in claim 11, wherein said adjusting means includes a spindle having an axis substantially parallel to that of said pressure cylinder and being mounted adjustable in the direction of its axis on said frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 377,224 1/1888 Bagaley 72-87 430,750 6/1890 Ralston et al. 72-86 715,777 12/1902 Fowler 72-86 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

L. A. LARSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR WORK HARDENING AND FINISH ROLLING PERIPHERAL SURFACES OF PREMACHINED RAILROAD WHEELS OR THE LIKE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF A WHEEL; LEVER MEANS MOUNTING SAID WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER TURNABLE ABOUT ITS OWN AXIS AND TILTABLE ABOUT A TILTING AXIS NORMAL TO ITS OWN AXIS; FIRST PRESSURE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID LEVER MEANS FOR TILTING THE LATTER ABOUT THE TILTING AXIS TO PRESS THEREBY SAID WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER AGAINST THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE RAILROAD WHEEL; SECOND PRESSURE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID LEVER MEANS FOR MOVING THE LATTER AND THE WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER MOUNTED THEREON IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO SAID TILTING AXIS TOWARD THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE RAILROAD WHEEL WHILE PERMITTING SAID LEVER MEANS TO MOVE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION UNDER THE REACTION OF THE FORCE IMPARTED BY SAID WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER ON SAID WHEEL; AND AN ABUTMENT ROLLER ARRANGED SO AS TO ENGAGE THE RAILROAD WHEEL ON A SIDE FACE THEREOF TO TAKE-UP AXIAL FORCE COMPONENTS IMPARTED TO THE WHEEL BY SAID WORK HARDENING AND FINISHING ROLLER. 